UTSA advances to WAC baseball title game

Mike Warren ripped an RBI double and Matt Sims pitched five innings of no-hit, shutout relief Saturday morning to lift the UTSA Roadrunners to a 1-0 victory over CSU Bakersfield and into the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

UTSA claimed the victory in Grand Prairie.

As the winner of Pool A in the tournament, the team is scheduled to play for the WAC championship Sunday at 1 p.m. UTSA will play the winner of Pool B, which is to be determined later Saturday.

A hard-fought victory over the tournament’s No. 1 seed started Friday night. The game was suspended in the fifth inning because of rain. Play resumed some 14 hours later, at 10 a.m. Saturday.

UTSA took control when Warren lashed an RBI double in the sixth. Tony Ramirez led off against Bakersfield reliever Chuck Buchanan.

Jesse Baker sacrificed Ramirez to second and Warren delivered with a double down the left field line. Ramirez scored the only run of the game.

Sims kept throwing strikes and finished with his second victory of the tournament. He worked five innings, did not allow a hit, walked two and struck out three.

With its third straight victory to start the tournament, UTSA’s defense extended its errorless innings streak to 31.

Catcher John Bormann threw out a runner trying to steal to end the fifth inning. Jordie Hein walked and tried to run but became Bormann’s 31st caught stealing victim of the season.

UTSA shortstop Horacio Correa III leaped high to rob Tyler Shryok of a hit to open the ninth inning.

Sims then got Dylan Christensen on a fly ball and pinch-hitter Allen Gwynn on a pop foul to end the game.

Sims has worked 11 2/3 scoreless innings in the tournament and has given up only three hits. He went the final 6 2/3 as UTSA beat Sacramento State 3-2 in 14 innings on Wednesday afternoon.

After knocking off Sacramnto State, UTSA hammered San Jose State 13-3 in eight innings Thursday and then handled CSU Bakersfield to win Pool A with a 3-0 record.